LSC Helps Itself in Admin Recruitment Drive
9 March 2007
West Midlands Learning and Skills Council has reason to be doubly pleased with its latest batch of eager admin recruits – because many of them landed their jobs with the help of innovative public sector recruitment initiatives.
Twenty-three local people secured jobs with the LSC thanks to a mixture of pre-employment training, recruitment within local communities and apprenticeship support – all led by the Public Service Compact, an alliance bringing together more than 30 employers from across the public service sector to tackle issues of recruitment, retention and staff development.
Those candidates who attended the course were given guidance in employment essentials such as interview techniques, customer service and IT skills, funded by Fair Cities Birmingham – an employer-led initiative to boost recruitment in disadvantaged areas of the city – and delivered by Sutton Coldfield College.
Julie Robson, Director of Skills for the LSC in the West Midlands, said: “With these new recruits, we are just the latest in a growing number of public sector employers to benefit from the excellent work of the Public Service Compact.
“The strength of the Compact and it’s partnership working with Fair Cities, is the ability to provide pre-recruitment programmes that are individually tailored to each employer’s needs so it’s pleasing that it’s the LSC’s turn to benefit directly!”
Rita Patel, Employer Engagement Director at Fair Cities Birmingham, explains: “This partnership with the Learning Skills Council has been a great success, filling all of the positions that were required. Although we are currently working with several major employers, we wish to work with more across the city.
“With 50 per cent of the growth in the workforce population forecast to come from black and minority ethnic communities and so many vacancies in the city to fill over the next decade, employers must address this untapped workforce to stay competitive.”
For more information about how the Public Service Compact can help you find the right job in the public service sector, visit www.publicservicepathways.co.uk.
Notes
Since its launch in January 2003, the Public Service Compact has grown to a membership of 30 employers with a combined workforce of over 100,000 employees. Its remit is to bring together employers from across the public service sector in order to form a collaborative approach to addressing the key issues of recruitment, retention and staff development. Partners include Fair Cities, Building Health, Activate, Jobcentre Plus, Connexions and major employers such as Birmingham City Council, Solihull Borough Council, West Midlands Police, West Midlands Fire Service and the Learning and Skills Council.Fair Cities Birmingham is an employer driven initiative to design custom built skills solutions to meet employment opportunities in Birmingham’s expanding industry sectors. It targets unfulfilled talent pools in the City’s most disadvantaged areas, delivering employers with job ready candidates. Fair Cities Birmingham is one of three pilot projects established by the Department for Work and Pensions and aims to fill 18,500 jobs by 2010.
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